Recent concern with environmental pollution by lead from the exhaust gases of internal combustion engines has forced a transition away from the use of lead antiknock compounds in gasoline. In order to produce unleaded gasoline having an acceptable octane value without varying the compounding ratio of gasoline, it has become necessary to use organic blending compounds with high octane ratings.
A variety of organic compounds are known as fuel extenders and octane value improving agents. Particularly, the well known organic compounds include methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl t-butyl ether, isopropyl t-butyl ether, t-amyl methyl ether (TAME) and t-butyl alcohol (TBA). The preparation of these ethers and alcohols by the catalytic addition of an alcohol or water to an olefin having a double bond on a tertiary carbon atom has been extensively studied.
In the past and presently, there have been, and are, many processes developed, and being developed, to produce methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE). For the most part, these processes have involved several steps and have been comprehensive as well as being costly. The problem being that only a substantially pure product of MTBE is useful in fuels. Contaminated fuels are not effective and require further treatment to be useful in fuels.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a one-step process for producing a product of a substantially pure t-alkyl ether such as MTBE or TAME.